Basics of VPS: Your Ultimate Guide to Virtual Private Servers

9 November, 2017

VPS

When dealing with web hosting, you have three variants: a shared hosting (the cheapest and the most popular option), a dedicated server that’s totally at your disposal, and so-called VPS (virtual private server), a combination of the two methods. Let’s dig deeper into the basics of virtual private servers and find out what it is.

What is a Virtual Private Server?

Also known as VPS, a virtual private server functions on a physical server that is divided into virtual parts. Although its features are close to the ones of a dedicated server, it is cheaper even with all its dedicated RAM, operating system, CPU resource and storage. This is what makes VPS a golden middle between a dedicated server and shared hosting.

Key Features of a VPS

Here are some basic characteristics of a virtual private server:

You can host an unlimited number of websites, each with simple access to control panel.

IP address of your website will only be shared with websites hosted on the same VPS.

Just like on a dedicated server, you can run your own operating system on a VPS.

You are free to install custom software.

Server can be remotely accessed via SSH and remote desktop.

Websites can use all VPS resources.

It costs from $10 to $150 per month.

Why Upgrading Your Shared Hosting to a VPS?

A shared hosting plan isn’t a good option for more or less developed websites, this is why there are many different reasons to upgrade.

Your website has become very slow. If you admit that, it’s time to change something. You know that the more content is uploaded, the slower the website gets. This can be solved with a VPS that will simply supply you with more resources and storage capabilities.

You receive a higher amount of traffic. That means that your website is getting popular, and you need to ensure optimal content delivery speed. Shared hosting is not the best solution, if you expect traffic spikes.

You get “Internal Server Error” messages. If this error keeps popping up frequently, that means one thing: you have exceeded the limit of current hosting plan’s resources. In this case, you can either contact your provider and ask about the possibility of scaling, or change to a VPS hosting.

Factors to Think Upon When Selecting a VPS Hosting Provider

When you have finally resolved to switch to a VPS hosting, it’s time to find a decent provider. Here’s what you should pay attention to:

Customer Support. Make sure that a VPS provider offers live chat support, or phone calls for contacting its customer support team. This way, you can solve issues with VPS quicker.

Don’t opt for the cheapest VPS hosting plan – check what’s included to avoid problems in the future.

Backup service. Select a VPS hosting that goes with regular backups. This way, you won’t have to worry about losing data or restoring hours of work.

Always inquire how much uptime web hosting provider offers. Ideally, it should be 99.9%. Anything below 99.5% is unacceptable.

Hope this guide helped you to get the idea of VPS and its usefulness. If you’re sure that such investment will outweigh company’s costs, you should definitely go for such solution!